Chuck’s Fish, 5 restaurant owners: Paying workers more is right thing to do

Chuck's raising min wage

Chuck's Fish Head Chef, Jason Greear, gives Rick Barfield a lesson in preparing a dish during Barfield's first shift at Chuck's in Tuscaloosa, Ala. on Monday June 30, 2014. Chuck's Fish and Five Bar are two local businesses that are raising minimum wage for non-tipped, mainly back-of-house, employees. The Tuscaloosa News | Erin Nelson

Tuscaloosa News

By Patrick RupinskiBusiness Editor

Published: Saturday, July 5, 2014 at 3:30 a.m.

Last Modified: Friday, July 4, 2014 at 4:10 p.m.

Antonio Sanders has worked in the kitchen at Chuck's Fish in downtown Tuscaloosa for three years. He rotates in preparing salads, manning the fry station and making pizzas and says he gets personal satisfaction in creating the food customers enjoy.

He also likes a new policy that Chuck's owners started May 12 — a company-set minimum wage of $10.25 per hour.

No employee, even the newest hire, will ever be paid less than that amount, said Cris Eddings, a partner with Charles Morgan III in Chuck's Fish and 5, another downtown restaurant.

In addition to the two Tuscaloosa restaurants, Eddings and Morgan also have a Chuck's Fish and a 5 restaurant in Birmingham. The minimum-wage policy covers all four restaurants, which together have about 200 employees, Eddings said.

“Our staff makes the restaurants successful, so they should be capable of making a decent living,” he said.

Most of the restaurants' employees already make a lot more than the $10.25 an hour, he said, but the policy is there to assure workers that they will share in the restaurants' success.

“It is important to us that the people who spend a large portion of their lives working to make our restaurants successful make enough money to be able to eat in the restaurant that employs them,” Morgan said. “Some businesses and industries might be attracted to the state of Alabama because of the low minimum wage. The reason we're here is because of the abundance of talented people in the workforce.”

The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour applies in Alabama, which does not have its own minimum wage law.

States and municipalities can enact higher minimum wages and more comprehensive coverage than the federal requirement, but they cannot offer less. As of June 1, 22 states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).

Recently, the minimum wage has gotten more attention nationally.

President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address this year asked Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, after seeking a hike to $9 an hour in his 2013 State of the Union address. Neither request has been enacted by Congress, and no action is expected to occur this year.

Obama, however, has used executive orders to require federal contractors to pay their employees no less than $10.10 an hour.

Meanwhile, from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Wash., the minimum wage has sparked debate.

The Seattle City Council last month approved a $15 minimum wage that will be phased in during the next few years. All employers in Seattle will be paying it by 2021. With the phase-in, some employers will be paying a minimum wage of $11 an hour by April 2015 and larger employers there will be at $15 an hour by

2017.

The Seattle action occurred in a state that already has the nation's highest minimum wage — $9.32 an hour.

Meanwhile, 38 states this year have considered minimum wage bills, the NCSL said. Nine states — Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia — plus the District of Columbia have enacted increases this year, and Rhode Island might join the ranks, NCSL said.

Eddings said his and Morgan's decision was not done to make a political statement, nor was it an attempt to challenge other area businesses to follow suit.

“Businesses should decide on their own,” he said. “All businesses know what they are capable of paying and should respond on their own.”

He said he thinks his restaurants' policy will help retain good, dedicated employees.

“To us, it was just the

common-sense and right thing to do. If anything, we wish we had started it a long time sooner,” he said.

“We believed it is something we are able to do, and I think this is something that is good. We certainly want all the people who work with us to have a good life.”

He added: “The great majority of our employees have always made well above minimum wage. We want to make sure that everyone has a chance to earn a living, and we want them to be capable of climbing the wage ladder more rapidly.

“We also want to attract dedicated people who want to make a career in the restaurant industry.”

Sanders, one of the kitchen chefs, is among those making more than the company's new minimum wage, but he said he still appreciates the policy.

“I think it is a good thing because you will get more people who will want to work,” he said. “It'll be a way to (help) pay the bills,” he said.

<p>Antonio Sanders has worked in the kitchen at Chuck's Fish in downtown Tuscaloosa for three years. He rotates in preparing salads, manning the fry station and making pizzas and says he gets personal satisfaction in creating the food customers enjoy.</p><p>He also likes a new policy that Chuck's owners started May 12 — a company-set minimum wage of $10.25 per hour.</p><p>No employee, even the newest hire, will ever be paid less than that amount, said Cris Eddings, a partner with Charles Morgan III in Chuck's Fish and 5, another downtown restaurant.</p><p>In addition to the two Tuscaloosa restaurants, Eddings and Morgan also have a Chuck's Fish and a 5 restaurant in Birmingham. The minimum-wage policy covers all four restaurants, which together have about 200 employees, Eddings said.</p><p>“Our staff makes the restaurants successful, so they should be capable of making a decent living,” he said.</p><p>Most of the restaurants' employees already make a lot more than the $10.25 an hour, he said, but the policy is there to assure workers that they will share in the restaurants' success.</p><p>“It is important to us that the people who spend a large portion of their lives working to make our restaurants successful make enough money to be able to eat in the restaurant that employs them,” Morgan said. “Some businesses and industries might be attracted to the state of Alabama because of the low minimum wage. The reason we're here is because of the abundance of talented people in the workforce.”</p><p>The federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour applies in Alabama, which does not have its own minimum wage law.</p><p>States and municipalities can enact higher minimum wages and more comprehensive coverage than the federal requirement, but they cannot offer less. As of June 1, 22 states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages above the federal minimum wage, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL).</p><p>Recently, the minimum wage has gotten more attention nationally.</p><p>President Barack Obama in his State of the Union address this year asked Congress to raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, after seeking a hike to $9 an hour in his 2013 State of the Union address. Neither request has been enacted by Congress, and no action is expected to occur this year.</p><p>Obama, however, has used executive orders to require federal contractors to pay their employees no less than $10.10 an hour.</p><p>Meanwhile, from Washington, D.C., to Seattle, Wash., the minimum wage has sparked debate.</p><p>The Seattle City Council last month approved a $15 minimum wage that will be phased in during the next few years. All employers in Seattle will be paying it by 2021. With the phase-in, some employers will be paying a minimum wage of $11 an hour by April 2015 and larger employers there will be at $15 an hour by </p><p>2017.</p><p>The Seattle action occurred in a state that already has the nation's highest minimum wage — $9.32 an hour.</p><p>Meanwhile, 38 states this year have considered minimum wage bills, the NCSL said. Nine states — Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Vermont and West Virginia — plus the District of Columbia have enacted increases this year, and Rhode Island might join the ranks, NCSL said.</p><p>Eddings said his and Morgan's decision was not done to make a political statement, nor was it an attempt to challenge other area businesses to follow suit.</p><p>“Businesses should decide on their own,” he said. “All businesses know what they are capable of paying and should respond on their own.”</p><p>He said he thinks his restaurants' policy will help retain good, dedicated employees.</p><p>“To us, it was just the </p><p>common-sense and right thing to do. If anything, we wish we had started it a long time sooner,” he said.</p><p>“We believed it is something we are able to do, and I think this is something that is good. We certainly want all the people who work with us to have a good life.”</p><p>He added: “The great majority of our employees have always made well above minimum wage. We want to make sure that everyone has a chance to earn a living, and we want them to be capable of climbing the wage ladder more rapidly.</p><p>“We also want to attract dedicated people who want to make a career in the restaurant industry.”</p><p>Sanders, one of the kitchen chefs, is among those making more than the company's new minimum wage, but he said he still appreciates the policy.</p><p>“I think it is a good thing because you will get more people who will want to work,” he said. “It'll be a way to (help) pay the bills,” he said.</p>